Historically, Auburn has a good record against the Pac-12 — the conference with a reputation for wide-open offenses and late-night shootouts. The Tigers are 8-3 against current members of the conference, and they sport a 5-0 record in neutral-site games like the one they’ll have in Atlanta on Saturday.

However, the opponent they’ll face is not like the ones that give the league its offense-first reputation.

Washington can make an argument that it has college football’s best defense west of the Mississippi River. The Huskies ranked eighth nationally in yards allowed per game and fifth in points allowed per game last season. In the opponent-adjusted S&P+ ratings system, Washington was sixth nationally in 2017.

And, like a lot of products of the Pacific Northwest, Washington’s defense stands out by doing things differently.

Like Auburn and the 4-3, calling Washington a 3-4 defense is somewhat misleading. Auburn’s base defense is a 4-2-5...